The Stetson Reporter

The S t e t s on Florida's Oldest Collegiate tywspaper ]Jin)£lfeitc" TT "ft AAC mk »¥» %i/ic#t<f«?vc fee* f pyfefiwt) BWS r^te© llii^f^if ■ ■ i% %Mkmm 0W«. fNlaiwdr-xEv H Clinton proposes higher minimum wage Washington (Reuters) - President Clinton proposed a 90-cent rise in the $4.25-an-hour minimum wage Friday, and began a campaign to pressure skeptical Republicans into going along. Clinton claimed that "the only way to grow the middle class and shrink the underclass is to make work pay." The proposal provides that employers are required to increase their minimum pay to their workers by a total of 90 cents to $5.15 per hour over two years, at the rate of 45 cents a year. No Republicans — who now control Congress — attended the ceremony. White House spokesman Mike McCurry said the White House "tried like heE" to get some to attend but could not. On Capitol Hill, Republican House Speaker Newt Gingrich said he was skeptical about increas- . ing the minimum wage but that Congress would examine it seriously. He said he was concerned that raising the wage would increase the gap between the United States and Mexico, and would cost jobs, espedally among black teenagers. U.S. readies huge trade sanctions against China WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States said Friday it was ready to impose the biggest trade sanctions in its history on China, as a Saturday deadline approached for a deal on intellectual property rights with no accord in sight. "We're not going to hesitate tomorrow if there's no agreement," U.S. Trade Representative Mickey Kantor said in an. interview with CNN. ■■•;. The sanctions include 100 percent tariffs on about $1 billion worth of imports from China, unless an agreement on protecting copyrights, patents and trademarks from rampant piracy is reached by Feb. 4. China has threatened retaliation, and has specifically targeted U.S. auto companies to feel its wrath. Officials and the U.S. business community hope to avoid an all-out trade war, but are willing to risk taking a hit for something they care about deeply. Shuttle on course to rendezvous with Mir CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (Reuters) - The U.S. shuttle Discovery soared into orbit Friday for an historic rendezvous with Russia's Mir space station. The mission, scheduled to last eight days, is designed to merge the human space programs of two former Cold War foes and kick off a series of U.S. shuttle flights to dock with Mk. The crew is composed of five NASA astronauts, including the world's first female spaceship pilot, and a Russian cosmonaut. The flight is to include a spacewalk by two crewmen and the deployment and retrieval of a small space telescope, but the main mission of the crew is to rendezvous with the Mir on Monday and circle it while they conduct a photographic survey. Surgeon general nominee performed abortions WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Dr. Henry Foster, President Clinton's nominee to be surgeon general, disclosed Friday he had performed "fewer than a dozen abortions'' as a practicing physician, complicating his prospects for confirmation. But the White House said Clinton knew Foster's background and was "well satisfied" that his overall record would outweigh the concerns of anti-abortion organizations. Foster was named by the president Thursday to fill a post vacated by the firing of Joycelyn Elders for her outspoken views on sex and drugs. White House spokesman Mike McCurry said Clinton did not believe that Foster's disclosure would be an obstacle to his confirmation by the Republican-led Senate, which is heavily influenced by conservative groups. Despite the White House's optimism that the same fate would not befall Foster, anti-abortion forces were quick to intensify their protest at his nomination. Long lines overtake Commons Mike Demko The Stetson Reporter_ Have you been in the Commons at around noon any day this week? If you have, then you have noticed the long lines while waiting to pay for your meal. The new registers don't seem to be working as well as some might have hoped- -so far that is. During the winter term, classes were arranged so that students would not be eating in the Commons all at once, but the spring term seems to be working out a little bit differently. Every day of the week at around 12:00-12:30, most students go to the Commons to sit down to lunch. The lines during fall semester weren't quite as long as the ones prevalent in the Commons today, but there is a reason for this. Elliot Palmer, director of food services, says that there is a "software problem" in the new registers. The goal of the new registers is to provide a receipt of a student's purchases. The old registers did not have the ability to put out a receipt, much to the disdain of some students, but the new registers have been putting out much more of a receipt than is desired. It seems that there is no /ihr J&f; Hy M„ a :J Photo by Nancy Brill Long lines plague the Commons. The problem has been attributed to software and receipts, but Food Services expects the situation to be improved this week. Head residents announced Kelly Underwood The Stetson Reporter. The head resident selection process is over, after many resident assistants dedicated an entire week for the interview process. Ten candidates were interviewed for the positions. Five of them, along with three returning head residents, have been rewarded for their hard.work. The head residents for 1995-96 are: Heather Barrs, Smith Hall; Shane Cadden, Gordis; Kim Whittaker, Nemec; Michael Geyer, Carson/ Hollis; Jennifer Roth, Conrad; Alex LaTour; Stetson; Renee Parker, Chaudoin; and Dana Faircloth, Emily. The job of a head resident is time consuming. The head resident must work well with a staff and be very organized. "A head resident must have a good sense of time management, organizational skills, an excellent attitude, and dedication to a job," said Dana Faircloth, this year's head resident of Conrad. The selection process was tough. Each candidate was judged on several qualities including motivational skills, communication skills, maturity, and time commitment. Kate Zaner, assistant director for residential life, said that teamwork is one quality a good head resident needs. "[A head resident] needs to be able to plan programs. They will be working, with a staff of five to eight others to plan the community of the building" A head resident needs to know how to work with a lot of other people. Junior Sandy Baldwin, an R.A. in Chaudoin, said, "You don't just work with Residential Life, you work with Physical Plant, maintenance concerns, Public Safety, and the counseling center." Junior Shane Cadden, next year's head resident for Gordis, said he felt that the head residents can help provide some school spirit. "Stetson is going to be rebuilt through the residence halls. Head residents need to bring back school spirit. They need to pump life back into the residence halls, and the community will be strengthened." middle ground, but Palmer states that the problem has already been addressed, and that there has also been some improvement since the flaw was first noted. The time needed to process meals has been cut in half since-the registers first arrived here on campus. Palmer tends to think that if the receipt is reduced, then the waiting time is reduced as well. He also believes that the problem is within a stone's throw of being solved. The solution seems to be a change in the software of the registers as it is. Wayne Hanks, director of the Purchasing Department, stated that in putting out a receipt, thinking that in solving the problem of no receipt, the registers also nearly doubled the time it took to process a meal card. When you take the extra three or four seconds that was added to the processing time, and consider the hundreds of students that eat at the Commons each day at lunch time, there is quite a lag compare to the way lunch used to be. What Mr. Hanks proposes to do, and what has already been begun, is to revise the source codes in the register's software to no longer put out receipts for meal card students. He says that in "taking one step forward, we've also taken another step back...It was not something we anticipated." But don't worry, the solution has already been half-solved. Mr. Hanks says that the processing time was reduced this past Thursday, and that more revisions will be done this week. He's hoping that the problem will be out of the way by the end of this week. Mr. Hanks is concerned with this problem, because, he notes, "SGA and the student body worked so hard to get the school to make such a financial commitment." He is worried that all the work towards this goal might have gone to waste. So this week, when you're in the Commons, bring a stopwatch with you. I'm sure you'll see that the time goes by a little faster while you're in line this week. Committees approve limited alcohol policy Davina Yetter- The Stetson Reporter. On Friday, Jan. 20, the Student Affairs and Executive committees of the Stetson University Board of Trustees approved a limited use alcohol policy, as presented by the Planning Issues Task Force. Both committees raised.concerns regarding liability, but Vice President of Campus Life James Beasley recalled "the critical issue being enforcement." SGA President Mike Holbein, a voting member of the student affairs committee, said the trustees' concerns included "the reputation of the university, whaf s going to happen to the student population, that people will become rowdy." The PITF recommendation, which was released in mid-January, proposed a limited use policy, but did not suggest specific guidelines under which the policy would be enforced. These guidelines were to be developed by campus life in conjunction with Student Government Association. Holbein said-he was satisfied with the PITF decision to not include guidelines in the policy. "It makes the allowance for easily and readily changeable guidelines. If they don't work one year, you change them. You don't have.to go through the crap of making a new policy." The committees also passed a proposal allowing the Stetson law school, located in St. Petersburg, to change its policy to Florida state law. Both policies will go to a vote by the entire board of trustees in May, and if passed, will go into effect this fall. This was not the first time the trustees have examined the proposal. Members of the Alcohol Task Force updated the board of trustees while the original proposal was in the development process, and trustees received drafts of the policy in September. -^yyj0'.mmm :yy S> 5 - k''- :< ' '..'•' t ; ,,Ay'> ' - y* *\ '•-)« •>„ y-.« ■'/ :t Photo by Nancy Brill Up With People performed at Stetson this week in a benefit concert at the Edmunds Center. See Feature, page 2. New Study Abroad Program, in Mexico Mike Demko , The Stetson Reporter^ Think of it. You're sitting in a house in Mexico, getting prepared for your next class. Your new best friend is getting ready right alongside you, while someone makes breakfast for the both of you. You - look outside the window and see a beautiful setting of an old colonial Mexican town. Well, as of this fall, you can make this thought a reality. The Latin American Studies department is opening a Study Abroad program for students who would like to travel to and study in Guanajuato, Mexico. Headed up by the Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences, Gary Maris, the program will include tuition, room, board and air fare and will travel to the Universidad de Guanajuato in late July. There will also be numerous excursions from Guanajuato to places of historical and aesthetic value during the course of the semester. The deadline for sign-up is Mar. 1. Also assisting in the program is Robert Sitler, a professor in the Foreign Language Department, who has personally traveled to Guanajuato for the past four summers. Sitler says that the program was decided upon over Winter Term. He is very optimistic about the program, stating that he expects at least 3-5 people to sign up for the program. Sitler also expressed strongly that the cost of the semester abroad is exactly the same as the price of tuition, room and board here at Stetson. Dean Maris is optimistic about the program as well. He mentions that with allof the events that have been changing Mexico and its society, like NAFTA, it will be a great experience to see all of these economic and cultural changes up close. He says it will be good for "both the student who looks to the present, for the enjoyment and entertainment, and the student who looks to the future, for the experience." Travel to a foreign country will also look good on any college resume. It was also stressed by both Sitler and Maris that although aE of the other Study Abroad Programs require the student participating to be of junior status and to be in an upper-level class of the foreign language that would apply to the country they are traveling to, the Mexico program is open to students of both freshman and sophomore status, as weE as students who have completed their first- year Spanish requirement. The other Study Abroad Programs have been quite successful, including semesters in Madrid, Spain; Freiburg, Germany; Dijon, France; Nottingham, England; and Moscow. Maris beEeves that the Mexico program wiE be just as successful as the others, and wiE make a good addition to the Study Abroad Program.